For over 20 years, comic book adaptations have been the single most popular, bankable, and lucrative form of filmmaking in Hollywood, but the ongoing success of Oppenheimer paints the picture of genre fatigue setting in to an extent that’s been unprecedented since the turn of the millennium.
Christopher Nolan knows a thing or two about superheroes having crafted the seminal Dark Knight trilogy, but the fact he’s delivered a three-hour historical drama with an R-rating that’s rocketed past $850 million at the global box office makes a mockery of both Marvel and the DCEU’s recent track records.
If Oppenheimer were part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then it would be the third highest-grossing release since Avengers: Endgame, with Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness the only two Multiverse Saga releases to have made more in ticket sales, and it can’t be discounted that the latter could get overtaken as Nolan’s latest edges closer and closer to a billion.
Comparing the film’s overwhelming success to the DCEU, then Oppenheimer could realistically end its run in multiplexes having earned more than Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, and Blue Beetle combined, which is insane. In fact, by the time the dust settles, Aquaman will be the only DC blockbuster since Nolan’s own The Dark Knight Rises and Joker to have earned more box office dollars than Oppenheimer.
In microcosm, a tale of people talking in rooms has out-grossed seven of the last nine MCU installments and all eight of the DCEU’s post-Aquaman features, a development that would have seemed nonsensical as recently as a couple of years ago.